Missile kills Pakistan tribal head

CNN ^ | Friday, June 18 | Syed Mohsin Naqvi

[AdmSmith]

ISLAMABAD (CNN) -- A tribal leader accused of harboring Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan's western border region was killed Thursday night in a targeted missile strike, according to Pakistan intelligence sources. The Associated Press quoted an army spokesman Friday as identifying the tribal leader as Nek Mohammed, a former Taliban fighter.

He was killed late Thursday at the home of another tribal chief, the spokesman said.

"We were tracking him down and he was killed last night by our hand," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told The Associated Press.

[AdmSmith]

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/july-2004/26/main/top8.asp

No early solution in sight

From Shamim Shahid

WANA, South Waziristan Agency - The economic sanctions on the tribesmen and the security forces operation apart, there seems no sure way-out that could offer easy solution to the ongoing crisis in the South Waziristan Agency.

There is also little role left for the 36-member committee, backed by the administration, after it was criticised by the politically aware and educated tribesmen who strongly oppose steps like demolition of houses and economic sanctions. During a visit by this correspondent to Wana and its adjoining areas, it was observed that poverty, backwardness, unemployment, and harsh policies on the part of political administration are the main reasons behind the ongoing crisis apart from suspected Al-Qaeda fugitives or militants hiding in parts and pockets of the agency. The tribesmen of the agency seem suppressed by the administration and no one could raise his voice for his basic rights. In such conditions even the tribal elders with different approach from the administration can not express their views openly on issues related to action against al-Qaeda.

Like the former colonial rulers, the political administration of the agency has kept divide and rule policy alive in South Waziristan Agency. Even the tribesmen are discouraged to tackle own issues through their traditional jirgas as the administration continues to impose own mind on them. The tribal jirga in consultation with the administration constituted a 36-member committee in. May last to resolve the problems erupted with alleged presence of al-Qaeda. However, the committee, as a result of administration dictations, was unable to complete its assignments and its dissolution was declared early this month by its chief Malik Baa Khan when educated and politically aware tribesmen expressed their disappointment over its performance.

The Political Administration was angered by this move as it was reluctant to welcome the educated tribesmen's move for politically handling the situation. At the moment there exists a gap between the tribesmen and administration. Neither the political agent is willing to talk with tribesmen other than members of 36-member (dissolved) committee nor he allows the educated and politically aware class to help him in handling the situation.

The Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen even expressed their willingness to recognize the administration patronised (dissolved) committee, if its members convinced the political agent on lifting of the economic sanctions. These days a makeshift market has been established near the main Bazaar of Wana as thousands of shops are sealed for the last two months, thus the tribesmen continue to suffer economically and socially.

The tribesmen on the one hand are selling their locally-produced vegetables and fruits at lowest prices and on the other they are compelled to pay high prices for the daily-use items from other cities and towns of the regions. The sitting political agent Asmatullah Gandhapur is known for his long stay in South Waziristan Agency. Besides serving against other common offices, he remained Assistant Political Agent and Assistant political Officer in Wana and other parts of the agency for a long time. During this period, he on the one hand tightened his grip over the administration and on the other he had earned enmity and anger of the tribesmen, mostly from Ahmedzai Wazir and Mehsud tribesmen.

To many tribesmen Asmatullah Gandhapur has now become a party to the complicated issues of South Waziristan Agency rather than a judge. And it is the main reason why Ahmadzai and Mehsud tribesmen irrespective of their differences wanted replacement of Asmatullah Gandhapur by Azam Khan. Though majority of the suspected foreign al-Qaeda elements and their shelterers have been dented by the ongoing administrative action, some of them have assembled in Santoyee and Mantoyee. The campaign against the al-Qaeda started from Tora Bora in Afghanistan and after passing through Shahi Kot, Angor Ada, Azam Warsak, Kalusha and Shakai valley, now it has reached Santoyee and Mantoyye. The Ahmadzai Wazirs dominate Santoyee while Mehsuds dominate Mantoyee. And these two areas are very close to the Shawal Mountains, connecting not only North and South Waziristan with each other but also Pakistan with Afghanistan. Though the government has made certain deployment in Shawal, it could become a challenge like Tora Bora or Shahkot.

Some people from within forces believe that a few hundreds of the militants still might be sheltering in the caves, constructed during the Afghan Jihad. Such militants, mostly from foreign countries might start another battle, they said. "They (militants) possess a huge quantity of modern and sophisticated weapons as well as cash amount, sources in military and paramilitary forces said. Even some time the forces face shortage of weapons and other logistics while there is no such problems for the militants. The forces have the only edge over the militants and that is the assistance and support from the Air Force.

Some of the official sources also claim that there is no more al-Qaeda in the region and paid agents are fighting against the security forces at the behest of India and Northern Alliance.

Ironically, in Wana and its surrounding areas no one is able to get a single bread or drinking water but the tribesmen are getting first-hand Audio and Video Cassettes along with Computer CDs every day. Such items contain provocative speeches, poems, songs (without music) and Naats in favour of al-Qaeda, Taliban, late Nek Mohammad and his associates. These activities also highlight torture of the prisoners in Guantanamo (Cuba), Abu Gharib, Bagram Air Base and others. Beside use of cassettes in vehicles and homes, they are played through mosque loudspeakers and being listened by the tribesmen with great attention.

However, No one know about the source of these cassettes and CDs. "We are unable to understand how the administration allows distribution of these CDs and Cassettes, when they stop us from buying wheat flour for our children," one of the educated tribesmen said. He said it seems militancy is being injected among the tribesmen from South Waziristan Agency under a well-planned ways.

Instead of playing a role of silent spectator, politicians from all over NWFP should force the government for political solution of the matter rather paving way for the emergence of Nek Mohammad like militants.

[AdmSmith]

What came first; the chicken or the egg? (The Taliban ideology has to be removed from the Pashtuns) http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav072604.shtml

EURASIA INSIGHT July 26, 2004

AFGHANISTAN'S TALIBAN UPRISINGS: WHO'S TO BLAME? Afzal Khan: 7/26/04

A EurasiaNet Commentary

By ignoring Afghanistan's majority Pashtun population, President Hamid Karzai's government has laid the groundwork for the Taliban-related attacks that continue to jeopardize the country's fragile security. Though Northern Alliance leaders have blamed neighboring Pakistan for the ongoing violence, that country's responsibility for the insurgencies is far from absolute.

The current unrest in southern and eastern Afghanistan can be traced to the period soon after the fall of the Taliban in December 2001. In the North, Northern Alliance militias dominated by Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara ethnic groups began to exact revenge on Ghilzai Pashtuns who had supported the Taliban campaign against the rebel fighters. Nearly three years on, suspicion of the Pashtuns, whose Durrani tribe made up the bulk of the Taliban leadership, still persists.

Though Hamid Karzai is himself an ethnic Durrani Pashtun, Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group, complain that they have been routinely excluded from positions of influence and power, as well as shortchanged from development projects. Currently, four ministers from the 15-member Afghan Cabinet - including the interior and finance ministers - and one of Afghanistan's four vice-presidents are Pashtun. Overall, the country's majority Pashtun clans make up some 42 percent of Afghanistan's population of 28.5 million.

Consequently, for the past two and a half years, Pashtun warlords in southern and eastern Afghanistan have increasingly been trying to make their presence felt. Firefights routinely flare in the Pashtun-dominated regions surrounding Kandahar, disrupting international aid supplies and voter registration efforts. In one recent skirmish, 11 Afghan militia members and five government soldiers were killed during an ambush not far from the town of Deh Rawood, in the province of Uruzgan, home of Taliban leader Mullah Omar. On July 22, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit announced that it would be withdrawing from southern Afghanistan after killing an estimated 100 fighters believed to be connected with Taliban and al Qaeda forces. Overall in Afghanistan, more than 600 people have been killed this year in insurgency-related violence or battles between rival militias.

Already, the violence has led to the rescheduling of Afghanistan's presidential and parliamentary elections, and still shows no sign of diminishing. The presidential poll is now slotted for October 9 and parliamentary elections have been scheduled for spring 2005. Barnett R. Rubin, senior fellow at New York University's Center on International Cooperation, told Inter Press Service in February that separating the two votes could make the presidential ballot seem like "an all or nothing" for ethnic groups, like the Pashtuns, who are skeptical of the current government.

Karzai has acknowledged the danger of Pashtuns feeling excluded from the electoral process, saying that more must be done to increase their stake in the country's political and economic reconstruction. So far, however, little sign of such an overture has occurred.

Rather, greater attention is being paid instead to disarming the country's private militia, which are believed to have as many as 60,000 troops. In a July 11 interview with The New York Times, Karzai named these armed groups - rather than the Taliban insurgencies - as the greatest danger facing Afghanistan.

To make that point stick, the president signed a sweeping decree on July 12 for the prosecution of any militia that fail to disarm in accordance with the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration program. No doubt hoping to lessen the decree's sting, ten days later the Karzai administration appointed the powerful militia leader General Ustad Atta Mohammad as governor of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan and two other anti-Taliban militia leaders as police chiefs in Nangarhar and Kandahar provinces in the south. All three warlords were also removed from their posts as Afghan army commanders.

But while Karzai points a finger at private militias, Northern Alliance members - among whom are some of the country's most powerful, militia-equipped warlords - are pointing a finger at Pakistan for fostering the Pashtun-related violence that disrupts the South.

After the fall of the Taliban in December 2001, Taliban fighters, some of them linked with al Qaeda, scattered throughout Afghanistan's remote, mountainous border area, eventually spilling into the Pakistani tribal territory.

At least initially, the Pashtun-populated North and South Waziristan tribal districts and the Pashtun belt of northern Baluchistan seemed a welcoming refuge. Many in Pakistan saw the Taliban leaders and senior al Qaeda members as heroes of the Pakistan-backed mujaheddin war against the Soviet Union's 1979-1988 occupation of Afghanistan.

Consequently, even after ending Islamabad's support of the Taliban, Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharraf was forced to do a balancing act. He cooperated with the United States in the war on terror only so far as it did not compromise his standing among Pakistani voters, many of whom were outraged by the US invasion of Afghanistan and its targeting of Islamic militants associated with terrorist organizations.

Northern Alliance members claim this ambivalence allows Taliban fighters to cross effortlessly across the border back into Afghanistan.

Grounds certainly exist for the suspicion. Ethnic ties between the Afghan Pashtuns and the inhabitants of Waziristan provide one strong link; opium routes running from southern Afghanistan to Pakistan strengthen the bonds with cash. Taliban and al Qaeda cells in Quetta and northern Baluchistan have also reportedly begun to supply young fighters with motorbikes for easy movement into the Afghan provinces of Zabul and Kandahar.

But the Northern Alliance's accusations have lost much of their sticking power. Under pressure from the United States, Pakistan has recently revved up its war against Taliban and al Qaeda supporters in the tribal regions, notably in South Waziristan. Two assassination attempts against Musharraf in 2002 and 2003 have provided an even more urgent incentive for a crackdown.

In March and June, the Pakistan army undertook two large-scale operations in the tribal areas, one of which resulted in the June 17 death of the pro-Taliban tribal leader Nek Mohammed. Economic sanctions have followed, and reports now exist of additional military excursions into the tribal areas of Kurrum and North Waziristan. Meanwhile, Afghan refugee camps not far from Quetta have been closed on suspicion that they are harboring Taliban and al Qaeda supporters, a decision that has sent thousands of refugees spilling back over the borders into Afghanistan.

Millions in US aid money means that these military operations are likely to continue. The US has already supplied $73 million to bolster security along the border with Afghanistan and has named Pakistan a "major non-NATO ally" of the US, a designation that qualifies Pakistan for expedited arms deliveries, loan support for arms exports and participation in defense research programs, among other items. On July 19, the US House of Representatives also approved the allocation of $701 million to Pakistan from a $3 billion, five-year aid package. The bill authorizing the allocation is now before the Senate for approval.

Although the Pakistani army's US-backed operations are meant to rout suspected high-ranking al Qaeda and Taliban members - among them, Osama bin Laden - into the open, the broader impact could well undercut a key line of support for Afghanistan's Taliban.

But even so, making the tribal areas less hospitable for Taliban fighters on the run will only address one part of the problem. As was the case for Pakistan-based mujaheddin during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Taliban-friendly fighters from the tribal regions can only come to support fellow Pashtuns in Afghanistan if they are welcome.

For now, little suggests that that welcome will soon be rescinded. A poll conducted in February and March by the Kabul-based Afghan Media Resource Center suggests the extent of that feeling. While 62 percent of 804 respondents nationwide evaluated Karzai's performance as "good" or "excellent," that number fell to 35 percent in the Pashtun-dominated South. Similarly, while only 13 percent of Afghans nationwide had favorable views of the Taliban, that number increased to 25 percent for the population in the South and Northeast.

As preparations for this fall's presidential elections continue, it is a statistic the Karzai administration would do well to keep in mind.

Editor's Note: Afzal Khan is a political analyst specializing in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[nuconvert]

"Once the terrorists had surrendered, the policemen also chanted Na'ara-i-Takbeer"

LoL. And a couple of hallelujahs?

[nuconvert]

LOL!

[nuconvert]

"songs (without music)"....Hmmm......not much of a song.

This is bad that the politicians and 'administration' are aiding and abetting the enemy. Someone needs to do something about that ASAP.

[nuconvert]

"politically aware and educated tribesmen" ?

"it was observed that poverty, backwardness, unemployment, and harsh policies on the part of political administration are the main reasons behind the ongoing crisis apart from suspected Al-Qaeda fugitives or militants hiding in parts and pockets of the agency"

And no running water.....but aside from that, it's charming.

[nuconvert]

"opium routes running from southern Afghanistan to Pakistan"

Why didn't we torch the poppy fields when we had the chance?

[nuconvert]

Iran helping Al Qaeda Avoid US Intelligence Monitors

July 25, 2004

Al Qaeda is able to avoid US intelligence efforts to monitor their electronic communications with the help of Iran. The UK online news site, Telegraph.co.uk, in an interview with a Jamil Yousif, a former Pakistani police investigator, has learned that Al Qaeda and associated terrorists “are hiding near the Pakistan-Afghan border. They have sophisticated satellite phones which enable them to use Iranian land phone lines to log on to the internet.

"They are using land lines in one country and hiding in another, which enables them to dodge the security agencies."

Iran has long admitted to having an Al Qaeda presence. The evidence of Iranian support for terrorists is well known. Bi-partisan Congressional support for action against Iran appears to be building.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1178062/posts?page=18#18

[Boot Hill]

“They have sophisticated satellite phones which enable them to use Iranian land phone lines to log on to the internet.”

Nek Mohammed stands as an eternal monument to the ill-founded belief that their sat phone communications are secure.

--Boot Hill

[AdmSmith]

A few years ago Afghanistan only had a satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) linked only to Iran and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region) + a commercial satellite telephone center in Ghazni.

Thus the use of Iranian terrestrial network.

pick your gear: http://store.ustronics.us/bthursatphon.html

They have 2 GSM operators and in August 2003 "Kabul passed a key milestone: in any given day, more mobile calls are made in the Afghan capital than in downtown Manhattan" according to this http://www.benhammersley.com/reportage/afghanistan_august_2003.html

[jeffers]

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en70074&F_catID=&f_type=source

WANA, July 25: After a four-day lull, militants again targeted paramilitary
headquarters and a local helipad in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region
early on Sunday.

Residents in Wana, the regional headquarters, said that militants fired three
rockets on military installations at about 3am, which led to a two-hour long
exchange of fire between the security forces and the militants.

Witnesses said that a rocket hit the South Waziristan Scouts camp, while two
others landed at the nearby helipad. The offices and residences of political agent,
military officials and army troops are located at the scouts camp.

The paramilitary forces returned the fire. No casualty was reported from both
sides. The region had remained peaceful after security forces secured key locations
and hilltops in Santoi, Mantoi and Dand areas along the Afghan border last week.

Meanwhile, the Afghan authorities released 25 Pakistani drivers and 13 trucks on
Sunday who had been detained three days earlier in the neighbouring Paktika
province. The released drivers said in Wana that the Afghan authorities detained
them in Margha area and also impounded their vehicles loaded with fruit and
vegetables.

Following the government economic sanctions against the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe the
local farmers transported their agricultural produce to Afghanistan via North
Waziristan region. However, the Afghan authorities detained them and took away
fruits and vegetables worth millions of rupees.

[jeffers]

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en70081&F_catID=&f_type=source

WANA–A decisive operation against the foreign ‘’terrorists’’ at large in the South
Waziristan may begin soon in case the ongoing dialogue fails.
The foreigners flanked by their local supporters are about 150 in number. An
ammunition depot built during the Afghan War is said to be under their control.
According to information, foreigners and locals hiding in the Shakkai, Muntoi and
Suntoi areas are retreating after the major offensive by the security forces.
According to The Nation investigation report, the foreigners are hiding in the
mountains near Suntoi and Muntoi. These foreigners include Uzbek, Chechen and
people belonging to other nationalities. It has been learnt that the Afghan
Mujahedeen and the foreign fighters which came to their aid in the fight against the
Russian forces set up an ammunition depot in the Kozgha mountains. This depot is
now under the control of these foreigner fighters. Local sources have told The
Nation that the depot still has large quantity of ammunition and this is the reason
these fighters resisting the government have not run out of supplies. The security
forces have made large-scale preparations to conduct a decisive operation against
the foreigners and their supporters. They are practically surrounded by the security
forces. If the ongoing political dialogue fails, a large-scale military opeation may be
in the pipeline. A Nation correspondent touring the Shakkai environs was informed
that Indain-built missiles were used against the security forces. The Security forces
came across four Indian-built missiles, in addition to other ammunition, when they
raided a militant hideout. Two persons arrested during the operation are also
suspected to be Indian nationals. However, high officials have not confirmed this
information. The residents of South Waziristan Agency have a soft corner for these
foreign fighters who they think came to resist Russian aggression leaving behind
their comfortable lives. They say that Pakistan and the Western world at large
supported them at that time but now the situation is different. With US forces in
Afghanistan, these people are left with no place to go.
These people never harmed the interests of Pakistan and they have been friendly
with the local populace.
Developmental projects including health, education, water and telecommunication
and sports projects have been launched in Shakkai by the government in order to
win over the local people.

[jeffers]

http://www.dawn.com/2004/07/27/welcome.htm

Bomb blasts hit government radio station in South Waziristan: ISLAMABAD, July 27: Two bomb explosions hit a newly established official radio station in South Waziristan
region near the Afghan border, suspending service to the area, eyewitnesses said today. The radio station situated in Wana, had started a week earlier its daily six-hour long transmission.
Its broadcast included music and religious and informative programmes in local Pushto-language. The government was also using the medium to propagate its development programmes in
the rugged mountainous area. (DPA) (Posted @ 11:35 PST)

[AdmSmith]

First they said that it will go back on air within 24 hours, yesterday they said that it will take a few days. Maybe it can be operational on Friday at the usual hours 6-9 AM and 6-9 PM.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_28-7-2004_pg1_3
Militants blow up radio tower in Wana

Staff Report

PESHAWAR: Two explosions hit a newly established state-run radio station in South Waziristan Agency disrupting its broadcast in the area, said eyewitnesses and officials on Tuesday.

Militants detonated explosive charges at the foot of the transmission tower, officials said. After the saboteurs struck, they exchanged small arms fire with security forces. FATA Information Director General Shafiquzzaman told Daily Times that service was suspended but hoped it would be resumed shortly.

Terrorists planted two bombs close to the antenna, which went off at 10:00pm on Monday, said eyewitnesses in Wana. However, a tribal elder believed the damage to the antenna might be reaction to "outsiders' role" to run the station. "Part of the tower base has been badly damaged," one Wana resident said. "The tower is not standing straight now. It is leaning to one side." The government was also using the medium to propagate its development programmes in the area.

[jeffers]

A new set of maps are up, the Shawal Valley in 4 detailed quadrants, with around 250 placed villages and landmarks. The same set of maps are available without the roads and villages, just scroll down to the bottom. These allow a less obstructed view of the terrain. They are at:

http://host1.in-motion.net/~jefft/tech/Mapping/afghanistan/index.html

Next stop, Oruzgan.

[AdmSmith]

It is heating up, a curfew is imposed after sunset:
http://www.geo.tv/main_files/pakistan.aspx?id=32974

Wana residents movement banned ad infinitum after evening prayer

WANA: Political administration has banned wana residents indefinitely from getting outside their homes after Maghrib prayer, said a report.

Assistant political agent Wana, Khan Bux, issued notice to the all residents of Wana and its adjoing areas, saying that the people must abastain from getting out of their homes after the Maghrib prayers.

Traffic has also been banned, according to the notification.

The notice say anyone seen traveling or walking anywhere outside their homes would be shoot fire on forthwith and they themselves would be responsible for it.

The decision has been taken in the wake of attacks on military posts in the area during last several nights.

[nuconvert]

AL-QAIDA Suspect Arrested in Texas - (a Woman)

"A South African woman picked up in Texas almost 10 days ago may turn out to be a key, high-level al-Qaida operative"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1180328/posts

[AdmSmith]

Disturbing info
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FG28Df03.html

US paints Pakistan further in a corner
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - The recent peace talks between Indian and Pakistani leaders have helped push along the so-called "Track 2" diplomatic initiatives between the countries, but strategic quarters in Islamabad believe that the US approach to the Kashmir dispute, which Islamabad views as a purely regional issue between India and Pakistan, will prevent any significant breakthrough.

Security contacts in Islamabad tell Asia Times Online that Pakistan is highly concerned that the United States is favoring India too much, and that Washington is setting the Kashmir agenda to focus primarily on the new round of violence and human-rights violations there at the expense of measures to take the talks ahead.

The contacts point out that the United States' obsessive policies toward South Asia in the post-September 11, 2001, environment fail to recognize the fact that Pakistan still has a strong bargaining chip in its support - and willingness to use - militant groups in the Kashmiri struggle.

Washington appears to be blinded by President General Pervez Musharraf going along with certain anti-terror measures, such as banning some militant groups, but these were done under duress, and the reality is that Pakistan's real policymakers - an oligarchy of retired and present military officers - fully embrace the use of Islamic extremism to realize strategic goals.

For Washington not to treat Pakistan as an equal partner with India, then, is to risk a serious backlash that would scuttle the emerging peace process.

Yet Washington is doing exactly this. Although the administration of US President George W Bush has bestowed "major" non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ally status on Pakistan, ostensibly as a reward for its support in the "war on terrorism", the US has still offered to sell an advanced defense-shield system to India. This goes against the spirit of Pakistan being a non-NATO ally, which also involves Pakistan allowing the US to use its bases. Pakistan has also been denied a deal on F-16 aircraft. Washington has, however, written off millions of dollars in Pakistani debt.

Also, on the United States' insistence, Pakistan has not raised the question of India building a huge fence along the Line of Control (LoC) that separates Pakistani- and Indian-administered Kashmir, which is tantamount to Islamabad accepting the LoC as the permanent border, something it bitterly disputes. Most of the confidence-building measures Pakistan has adopted with India have been under US pressure.

In return, in Islamabad's view, the Indian side has not made any concessions. As a result of secret talks between the two countries, several options have been mooted for resolving the Kashmir issue, with the national leadership obliged to "float trial balloons" to gauge public opinion. For example, Musharraf has openly discussed the "Chanab trusteeship formula" at various forums and with the press and political leaders.

However, there has been no such move from the Indian side to inform the public on new developments. Indeed, the major component of the opposition parties, the former ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has revived agitation to scrap Article 370 from the Indian constitution, which suggests a special status for the Muslim-majority Kashmir state. This has completely set the Indian leadership on the defensive and they appear incapable of taking a single new step on Kashmir.

These developments had given rise to a deep-rooted feeling in Pakistan's ruling oligarchy that any talks between India and Pakistan will be devoid of substance, and that an escalation in cross-border militancy is the only way to force the Indian (US) side into making a genuine effort on Kashmir.

[nuconvert]

WoW. Great maps!
Thanks

[jeffers]

A few caveats I need to mention. One, the scale on those maps is generally only accurate from left to right or vice versa. Because the tile is tilted front to back, the apparant spacing is foreshortened and the scale won't apply.

Two, in general, a large area without any towns showing on the map represents an area where there simply aren't any towns or villages that I can find. On the other hand, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of villages in the more populated areas that space considerations didn't permit me to place.

Three, the "probable roads" could be anything from a two lane blacktop to a dirt goat path. Their placement is based on a variety of factors, possible indications on satellite imagery, slope angle and trafficability, a village named "***** Narai" or "***** Kandao" which probably means "pass".

Four, although nearly every significant drainage is shown with a water course, most of these are probably dry during a significant portion of the year. Per Boot Hill's research, about 75% of the village names ending in "Algad" are located next to intermittent waterways.

Hope this helps in using the maps in the future.